Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade – William Goldman

Another gem from Phil’s bookshelf. After bemoaning the books on my “To read” shelf, and failing to get to the Barbican Library to stock up on fresh page-turning fodder, Phil came to the rescue:

Phil: “What do you fancy reading?”
Mary:”I don’t know, something like this [pointing to William Goldman’s Adventures in the screen trade].”
Phil: “You mean like this [holding out Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade], his follow-up.”

Thus I found myself back in the world of making movies, US-style, but this time with William Goldman deconstructing scripts, and explaining what works and why, and what doesn’t and why not – not just in his opinion but bringing in comments and analysis from other screen-writers he knows. It’s a small, small world!

And, yes, there are occasional asides, offering Heat-type gossip about stars of the silver screen. Thank heavens for a weekend for reading!